i10 bags 60,000 bookings from the overseas market

Hyundai Motor India, India’s second largest passenger car manufacturer and the largest exporter today achieved another milestone in its remarkable decade old journey in India. Hyundai Motor India had launched its latest compact car on 31st October, 2007 marking the global debut of the i10. Following the India launch the i10 debuted in Europe at the Bologna Motor Show, Italy in December, 2007 and displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in January 2008. HMI started accepting export orders for the i10 from December, 2007 and received 60,000 orders from the overseas market creating a record of clocking the fastest 50,000 units of export orders in just three months. HMI will ship around 26,000 units by March, 2008. The i10 which is manufactured only at the Chennai plant keeping with HMC’s stand of making India the hub for small cars will be exported to all the major markets across the globe covering over 90 countries by the end of the year. And in tune with Hyundai’s philosophy of providing the best sales service HMI has started a training programme to train the staff of all its overseas distributors. Currently, a batch 31 sales Managers from the overseas markets covering about 21 countries from far flung Africa, Latin America, Europe to Asia will undergo a training programme in Chennai from 11th – 14th, March 2008 which will be held in HMI’s Chennai factory premises. This familiarization and understanding of the i10 and HMI as a company will help them to further establish the product in their respective markets. This is also a beginning of a trend which by itself is a first for the industry where overseas partners are trained in India. Following the stupendous response in the domestic market both by the consumers and the media which conferred upon the i10 all the ‘ Car of the Year - 2008’ awards making it the first car to win all the COTY awards including the coveted ‘ Indian Car of the Year’ from a jury comprising of the most respected automotive journalist in India – the i10 is truly on its way to becoming a true global car.